Deep Personality is a product alternative to Understand Myself
Understand Myself is a commercial Big Five-style report (Jordan Peterson’s paid BFAS-10 aspects, $9.95). Deep Personality runs IPIP-50 domains from public-domain items, then an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison.
An Understand Myself alternative is a different Big Five report when you do not want Understand Myself’s commercial aspect product. Understand Myself (understandmyself.com, associated with Jordan Peterson) sells a paid Big Five Aspect Scale (BFAS-10) report: five traits split into ten aspects, listed at $9.95. Deep Personality is a product alternative to Understand Myself. This site runs IPIP-50 domains — fifty public-domain Goldberg items — then an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison.
This page is about that product. It is not a dictionary definition of the English words “understand myself,” and it is not a synonym for “Know Myself” or “Discover Myself.”
This page is https://deeppersonality.app/understand-myself-alternative. It is the product page, not a dictionary definition. 16Personalities, VIA, CliftonStrengths, TraitLab, and Understand Myself itself do different jobs.
The page-length comparison is Deep Personality vs Understand Myself.
Published 2026-08-27. Updated 2026-10-01.
What is an Understand Myself alternative?
An Understand Myself alternative is another way to get a Big Five-style report without buying the BFAS-10 aspect report.
On this site the alternative is a sequence, not a type label:
- The free quiz is ten IPIP items — two per Big Five trait. It is a teaser. It is not the IPIP-50. It does not score attachment.
- The full path is the IPIP-50 on the Big Five test page: fifty public-domain Goldberg items, ten per domain, five domain scores.
- An attachment overlay comes after those fifty items. The free quiz does not produce it.
- An optional partner comparison is available after two people finish. It is not a compatibility score.
Start the free quiz if you want the teaser first. Continue on the free Big Five test page for the free path, and on IPIP-50 for the inventory length.
You do not get:
- The Big Five Aspect Scale or ten aspects
- IPIP-NEO-120 or IPIP-300
- A 16Personalities type, a VIA strengths profile, or CliftonStrengths
- A claim that this product is more scientific than Peterson
- An invented accuracy percentage
- An attachment result from the 10-question quiz
- A diagnosis
We do not run BFAS. We do not run IPIP-NEO. The result is not ten aspects. Not BFAS. Not IPIP-NEO. A domain score is a coarser cut of the same five traits. We do not claim this product is more scientific than Peterson.
Understand Myself vs Deep Personality
The useful comparison is the job, not a winner. IPIP-50 vs BFAS is a resolution difference: ten paid aspects versus five domain scores from public-domain items.
| Understand Myself | Deep Personality | |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Commercial Big Five-style report (Jordan Peterson / BFAS) | A product alternative to Understand Myself |
| Instrument | BFAS-10 aspects, paid ($9.95) | IPIP-50 domains — fifty public-domain Goldberg items |
| Price and access | $9.95 for the aspect report | Free teaser, then the full path. Pricing. No license fee for the public-domain items. |
| What you see | Ten aspects of the five traits | Five domain scores |
| Attachment | Not the product | Attachment overlay on the full path only |
| Partner | Typically an individual report | Optional partner comparison after two completers |
Price and access
Understand Myself’s published price for the BFAS-10 report is $9.95. That is a fair reason to stay if you want that specific report and are ready to pay for it.
Deep Personality starts with a free quiz: ten IPIP items, a teaser, not the full inventory. The full score is the IPIP-50. The items are public-domain Goldberg markers. There is no license fee for those items. A longer written report is optional. The free quiz is not the $9.95 aspect report. Current prices are on the pricing page. The free page is free Big Five test.
Attachment layer
Understand Myself is an individual Big Five aspect report. Attachment is not that product.
On this site, attachment is a second score — anxiety and avoidance — scored only after the IPIP-50. The ten-item quiz does not score attachment. We do not administer the 36-item ECR-R. The overlay page is attachment style test.
Couples compare
Understand Myself is built as a personal report. A partner is not required, and a side-by-side couple view is not the product.
Deep Personality’s partner path is optional. Both people finish the IPIP-50 and the attachment overlay. Then Unlock Comparison shows the two profiles side by side. It is not a match percentage and not a stay-or-leave verdict.
IPIP public-domain items
BFAS-10 is a commercial aspect questionnaire. IPIP-50 is fifty public-domain items from the International Personality Item Pool, ten per domain. Labs and applications can use those items without licensing a commercial inventory. The reference site is ipip.ori.org. We use public-domain Goldberg IPIP items. We are not ori.org. We did not invent the items, and we did not publish a validity paper.
Is Understand Myself Big Five?
Yes. Understand Myself is a commercial Big Five-style report. The instrument is the Big Five Aspect Scale: the same five traits — openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism — split into ten aspects (DeYoung, Quilty, and Peterson, 2007). It is Big Five. It is not a four-letter type, and it is not the public-domain IPIP-50.
Deep Personality is also Big Five, at a coarser cut: IPIP-50 domains, not ten aspects. Same family of traits. Different questionnaire, different resolution, and two extras the aspect report does not include: an attachment overlay, and an optional partner comparison.
Aspect scores answer a finer question. Domain scores answer the five-trait question with a shorter public-domain form. We do not claim one resolution is more scientific than the other.
Names that are not this alternative
| Name | What it is | On this site |
|---|---|---|
| Understand Myself | The paid BFAS-10 aspect report | The product this page is an alternative to |
| 16Personalities | A shareable type | Not offered. See Big Five vs 16Personalities |
| VIA | Character strengths | Not offered |
| CliftonStrengths | Career strengths | Not offered. We do not run CliftonStrengths. |
| TraitLab | A separate Big Five product | Not this product. We do not dunk on TraitLab. |
| Truity | A catalog of several frameworks | Not this path. See vs Truity |
| Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM | A free IPIP cousin: an individual five-factor dump | Not this product. See vs Open Psychometrics |
| Deep Personality | IPIP-50 domains, then an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison | This product |
Free alternative to Understand Myself
A free alternative, here, means you can start without the $9.95 aspect purchase.
- Start the free quiz. Ten IPIP items. A teaser. Not the IPIP-50. It does not score attachment.
- Continue on the Big Five test into the full IPIP-50: fifty public-domain Goldberg items and five domain scores.
- Add the attachment overlay if you want closeness and distance next to those traits.
- Invite a second person for a partner comparison after both finish. Unlock Comparison is that step.
The query page for a free Big Five is free Big Five test.
Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM is a free IPIP cousin when you want an individual trait chart and nothing beside it. It is not Understand Myself, and it is not this product. See vs Open Psychometrics.
Who should stay on Understand Myself
- You specifically want the BFAS-10 aspect report
- You want Peterson’s commercial product, not five IPIP-50 domain scores
- You do not need an attachment overlay or a partner comparison
- Paying $9.95 for that aspect report is the access you want
Who should try Deep Personality
- You want a product alternative to Understand Myself that runs IPIP-50 domains
- You want public-domain items and a free teaser, then the full path
- You want an attachment overlay after the teaser, in the same path
- You want an optional partner comparison, not an aspect report
Start the free quiz. Continue on the Big Five test. The inventory page is IPIP-50. The free page is free Big Five test. Unlock Comparison is the partner path after the IPIP-50 and an attachment overlay. The longer product note is vs Understand Myself.
Honest links
- Start the free quiz — ten IPIP items; not the IPIP-50; does not score attachment
- Big Five test — the free quiz, then the full IPIP-50
- IPIP-50 — fifty Goldberg items; not BFAS, not IPIP-NEO, not ori.org
- IPIP — the citation page for the item pool
- Free Big Five test — the free path
- vs Understand Myself — the page-length product comparison (BFAS-10 aspects, paid, vs IPIP-50 domains)
- vs Open Psychometrics — IPIP-BFFM vs IPIP-50
- vs Truity — a catalog, not this path
- Big Five vs 16Personalities — spectra vs a type
Sources (public literature, not a Deep Personality study)
- DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C., & Peterson, J. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(5), 880–896. (Big Five Aspect Scale.)
- Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26–42.
- International Personality Item Pool: ipip.ori.org
- Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM: openpsychometrics.org/tests/IPIP-BFFM
We do not claim this product is more scientific than Peterson. We do not run BFAS. We do not invent a validity paper. We do not publish an accuracy percentage. We did not run a study that ranks this product against Understand Myself.
Unlock Comparison — two IPIP-50 profiles.
Invite a partner after IPIP-50 and an attachment overlay. The side-by-side view is for two completers. It is not a compatibility score. The free quiz is a teaser, not the BFAS-10 report.
Unlock ComparisonFrequently Asked Questions
An Understand Myself alternative is a different Big Five-style report when you do not want Understand Myself’s commercial BFAS-10 aspect product. Understand Myself (understandmyself.com, associated with Jordan Peterson) sells a paid $9.95 report: five traits split into ten aspects. Deep Personality is a product alternative: IPIP-50 domain scores from fifty public-domain Goldberg items, then an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison. It is not a dictionary definition of “understand myself,” and not a synonym for “Know Myself.” 16Personalities, VIA, CliftonStrengths, and TraitLab are different jobs. We do not run BFAS, and we do not run IPIP-NEO. This page is https://deeppersonality.app/understand-myself-alternative. Start at /quiz, then /big-five-test and /ipip-50.
Understand Myself is a commercial Big Five aspect report: BFAS-10, ten aspects, $9.95. Deep Personality runs IPIP-50 domains — five scores from public-domain Goldberg items — then an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison after two people finish. IPIP-50 vs BFAS is a resolution difference, not a winner. Stay on Understand Myself if you want the paid aspect report. Try this path if you want domain scores, an attachment layer, or a couples compare. We do not claim this product is more scientific than Peterson. The comparison is /vs/understand-myself.
Yes. Understand Myself is a commercial Big Five-style report. The Big Five Aspect Scale splits openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism into ten aspects (DeYoung, Quilty, and Peterson, 2007). It is Big Five. It is not a four-letter type, and it is not the public-domain IPIP-50. Deep Personality is also Big Five, at domain resolution: fifty Goldberg items, five domain scores, then an attachment overlay and an optional partner comparison. We do not run BFAS. We do not run IPIP-NEO. A domain score is a coarser cut of the same five traits.
On this site, yes as a starting path. The free quiz at /quiz is ten IPIP items — a teaser. It is not the IPIP-50, and it does not score attachment. The full score is the IPIP-50 on /big-five-test and /ipip-50: public-domain Goldberg items, no license fee for those items. Understand Myself’s BFAS-10 report is $9.95. The free quiz is not that paid aspect report. A longer written report here is optional. Current prices are on /pricing. The free page is /free-big-five-test. Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM is another free IPIP host when you only want an individual trait chart. See /vs/openpsychometrics.
No. The free quiz does not score attachment. The quiz is ten IPIP items — a teaser. Attachment is an overlay on the IPIP-50 in the full assessment. A partner comparison is available only after both people finish. Start at /quiz, then continue on /big-five-test.
We do not claim that. BFAS is a published aspect model (DeYoung, Quilty, and Peterson, 2007). IPIP-50 is a published domain inventory. They are different resolutions of Big Five traits. We do not publish an accuracy percentage against Understand Myself. We did not run a study that ranks the two products.